


Roman, Virgil, and Deceit Too

by havsgast



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abusive Patton, Black Mirror Episode: s05e03 Rachel Jack and Ashley Too, Controlling Patton, Descriptions of emotional and physical abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional neglect, Eventual Happy Ending, Inspired by Black Mirror, M/M, Slow Burn, controlled eating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-07 01:55:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20301523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havsgast/pseuds/havsgast
Summary: Roman can admit that he has had a celebrity crush since Deceit first debuted. His roommate - Virgil - likes to tease him about it, so when Deceit Too is released, Virgil gets him one for his 23rd birthday.Meanwhile, Deceit is actually Eden "Dee" Dante, a 23-year old that wants nothing more than to get out of his abusive uncle and manager Patton Hart's grip after 6 years of being Deceit, and 13 years of living with Patton.How lucky then, that Roman gets the opportunity to be Dee's knight in shining armour.





	1. From Eden to Deceit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have seen this AU on tumblr, because it got a lot more notes than I expected. (...to be fair, I didn't expect any notes.)
> 
> First two chapters will be about Dee's life, and then it'll follow the Black Mirror episode a bit more.

Eden Monroe Dante was born on March 12th, 1996 to Cadence Jolie Hart-Dante and Malakai Sawyer Dante, and for almost ten years the three of them were a happy family. That all changed during the North American blizzard of 2006, when Cadence and Malakai’s car was crashed into by a truck that had been sliding on the ice.

Malakai Dante had been an only child, and his parents were both living in a retirement home. Cadence Hart-Dante’s parents had both died of sickness and age, but she had a younger brother named Patton Hart. It fell on 22-year old Patton’s shoulders to take in Eden, since the only other option was the foster system. Patton had recently graduated college with a bachelor in music business and been hired as an intern at a talent agency at the time, but the Dante’s promised to send financial support since they couldn’t be there for their grandson, and Patton did love his nephew so he had taken Eden in.

It was good at first. Eden was old enough to make himself breakfast, keep his room in order, and do his homework on time. Patton took him to a therapist - Dr Emile Picani - for grief counselling. Then the appointments continued once it became clear that Eden had both anxiety and depression. Patton spent most of his time at work, trying to climb the career ladder. That meant that when he was home, he had no interest in spending time with Eden.

Slowly, Patton grew more and more annoyed with Eden’s presence in his life. The now teenager may be responsible for all the cooking and cleaning, but he still seemed to have too much free time. Patton would come home, and Eden would be waiting for him, hoping to spend time together. Patton would get texts asking if he would be home for dinner or if Eden should come to bring him something. Patton hated it.

Then came a day when Eden was 15. Patton was home early for once, and Eden had just come out of the bathroom to show his newly dyed hair. What had been brown hair was now bright lime green. Patton had barely spared his nephew a look, instead going into the bathroom to see if there were any stains. With Eden being the one responsible for cleaning, Patton had grown harsher and harsher standards.

As one could expect after a teenager’s first attempt at dyeing their hair, the sink was stained. Patton called Eden in to clean up together, and Eden had eaten it up as a chance to spend time with his uncle.

The more Patton looked at the stains on his white sink, and the awful colour in Eden’s hair, the angrier he got. He had taken out the bleach, not trusting anything less to truly get his sink back into pristine condition. In one moment, he had been preparing to dilute the bleach, and in the other, he had splashed the bottle straight in Eden’s face.

When they went to the hospital, Patton lied and said that Eden had accidentally dropped the bottle in the sink when trying to pour some out to dilute, and the bottle was full enough to splash over Eden’s face. He lied and said that they had both panicked, and that was why they didn’t rinse Eden’s face with water before leaving for the hospital.

Eden left the hospital with a second-degree chemical burn covering the left side of his face, and with a now blind left eye. Patton left feeling much better than he had before.

Any future appointments with Dr Emile Picani were cancelled. Patton couldn’t risk Eden running his mouth. New rules were also set in place; Eden was no longer allowed to do anything to his hair. If Eden hadn’t dyed his hair, Patton wouldn’t have been holding bleach, and Eden couldn’t get a haircut because the left side of his face had to be covered. Patton didn’t want to see it; it was ugly, unsightly.

Eden Monroe Dante was 15 years old and never wanted to be called Eden by his uncle ever again. Patton had nothing against calling him Dee instead - it was shorter, which meant less time thinking about his nephew.

In the following year, Patton finally got the position of his dreams. He was an agent at a well-known agency. Dee, who had been a part of his school’s Model United Nations, now found himself alone at home a lot more. He had wanted to continue with Model UN, but Patton’s comments had gotten to him, and in the end, he felt better not spending more time at school than he had to. Not knowing what to do with all this new free time, Dee took up learning the guitar.

While Patton made a name for himself as an agent, Dee started writing his own songs. The apartment they lived in was always so awfully quiet with only him, so he took to filling it with music. That’s how Patton found him one day; Dee sitting on his bed, playing the guitar and singing a song that he had written.

Patton said that he had talent. Dee had craved affection from his uncle for years, and now he had it. He would do anything to make Patton happy with him, even sign a contract that let Patton be his manager and agent without looking over it properly.

Being signed with Patton meant that Dee got to spend even more time with his uncle, and for a while, he thrived. Then Patton started tugging at his hair or poking at his waist, commenting on how no one could know that he wasn’t perfect if he got famous, and how he could stand to lose some more weight. The closer they got to his 17th birthday and his debut, the more critical Patton got about his appearance.

Dee’s first performance would be as the opening act for another, big-name artist handled by Patton’s agency. He had written his own songs, and Patton had changed the music to be more upbeat and more pop. He was wearing too tight clothes that showed too much skin, because that’s what Patton wanted him to wear. His hair had been braided in front of the left side of his face, the heavy braid stiff with hairspray guaranteed to not accidentally reveal the burn when he dances.

Everything about his performance except for the lyrics was as Patton wanted, but Patton would know best. It was his job. Dee was just happy getting to share his music with the world.

And then he was introduced as Deceit.


	2. Six years of Deceit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimpses of Dee's life from 2013 to 2019.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remy is introduced! That's good.

**2013**

Patton meets him backstage with a proud smile after the opening act is over. Dee gives a tired, but excited smile back. He wants to speak about the stage name that Patton had chosen for him later, but for now, he’s caught up in the euphoria of his first performance. To be only 17 and to have performed on a stage that big - for a crowd that big! It’s the best birthday gift that he could have dreamt of.

It’s also the only birthday gift he gets. Patton doesn’t acknowledge his birthday at all, but he does tell him that he did well. That has to be enough. Especially since Patton slaps Dee when he finally gets the courage to question his stage name.

**2013-2016**

The years that follow his debut are full of writing new songs, rehearsing, learning moves for music videos, filming music videos, creating a social media presence, making appearances, and more performances. Patton has everything scheduled, leaving Dee no time for himself. He can’t remember the last time he attended school. He doesn’t know if he was still enrolled or if Patton pulled him out, but he didn’t attend his high school graduation. There is no talk about continuing his education. His grandparents had to get twitter because he has no time to call them, not to mention seeing them. The most contact he has with them now is through direct messaging.

He only gets time for himself when he’s supposed to sleep. Dee doesn’t know if it’s worth it. He likes performing, he likes that people like his music. He likes making people happy.

If only it wasn’t so hard to make Patton happy.

His own happiness and wellbeing shouldn’t have to suffer, yet that’s how it is. Patton is put first, Deceit second, and Dee last. Some days he doesn’t even remember who Dee is, or who he used to be before Deceit.

But Patton is happy with him and he gets to do something he loves. It’s worth it, right?

**2016**

Patton was furious. This morning, Deceit’s webpage had redirected to a jpeg that had _Damn Deceit, back at it again with the white wings written_ over a collage of pictures where Deceit did, indeed, wear white wings as part of his costume. Patton made all the creative decisions about his costumes and videos, and Patton liked religious themes like angels and the first sin. White wings and red apples were recurring themes. Dee had tweeted a screenshot of the meme, with a comment on how it wasn’t that amusing but he appreciated the effort, and the talent going into redirecting his webpage. That had made Patton even more furious.

Hair pulling was Patton’s favoured way of punishment, as it wouldn’t leave any noticeable trace. If Patton slapped him, it was always the left side of his face, which his hair would hide. Dee hadn’t expected Patton to ever pull his hair so hard that a clump of hair got yanked out of his scalp.

The missing patch of hair could be combed over and hidden, but the swelling was more noticeable. For the first time since he signed the contract, Dee was allowed a break. For two wonderful days, he did nothing but stay at home with an icebag against the swollen area. He entertained himself with mindless things, like updating his social media. Patton wasn’t home much during this time, but with his head aching he didn’t have the energy to do anything that required moving too much. It barely felt like a break since he couldn’t do anything fun, but the rest was appreciated nonetheless.

A twitter notification drags him out of his thoughts. A DM from one Remy “_starbucks bitch_” Dormir. Dee couldn’t help but be curious since the only ones he followed that would DM him were his grandparents. He was definitely not following this Remy, last time he checked, and he knew what his DM settings were.

**2016-2019**

Remy “_starbucks bitch_” Dormir had turned out to be the hacker who redirected Deceit’s webpage, and then later Deceit’s twitter so that Dee would follow him, allowing the DM to be sent. Remy is two years older than him, works with computers, and lives off of coffee. The redirection had been a drunken dare, that Remy had followed through with once he got sober because he never stepped down from a challenge. They had immediately become best friends, Dee desperate for socializing with someone that wasn’t involved with the music business or a fan; someone that he could actually be himself with.

It’s Remy who get to know what Dee really feels about the Deceit-persona, and about how his uncle controls him. It’s Remy who points out that Dee is abused - not just physically, but emotionally as well. It’s Remy that worries about how underweight Dee is. It’s Remy that to get to see the first picture of Dee that doesn’t hide the left side of his face. It’s Remy that he calls when he can’t sleep due to anxiety or wakes up from a nightmare. It’s Remy who gets to know how much he loves snakes, and how he wishes he could wear a pretty dress, and how much he hates having long hair because Patton keeps pulling it.

Most importantly, it’s Remy that suggest going over Dee’s contract for any loopholes that could free him from Patton before the time is up. They don’t talk about what might happen if Dee refuses to renew the contract, but the implication that Patton will get rid of him is there.

It’s Dee that suggests that they start their own band. He still wants to sing, to share his music, and Remy had played the electric keyboard for him over the phone more than once. It would be fun, freeing. Remy had agreed. It’s the only future plan that Dee has dared make.

He knows that Patton has noticed that something is different, knows that his computer is monitored. He knows that time is running out.

It’s a good thing that they’ve finally found a loophole.

**2019**

Patton is watching from the sidelines as Deceit gets interviewed. He’s paying more attention to his watchful uncle than he does to the interview, answering the questions about his songwriting almost on auto-pilot. His mouth feels sickly sweet as he explains the message of his songs; they’re all about being empowered and in control, things that he is not. If he could, he would write songs about feeling caged and being controlled like a doll.

Then comes the question about his uncle being the one giving him confidence. Dee wants to laugh but Deceit smiles and explains how Patton has taken care of him since he was a kid, and how he couldn’t wish for a better manager. Patton mouths at him to introduce the doll. The goddamn doll that Dee hadn’t wanted to do, because it was everything Patton wanted him to be like and nothing like he actually was. Still, he smiles and turns to meet the program host's eyes.

“Actually, I’m here to introduce you to Deceit Too,” he says and lifts up the robot from where it had been hidden behind his chair. “Deceit, wake up.”

“Hi, I’m Deceit Too!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know anything about memes or twitter. And Dormir is French for "sleep" because I'm uncreative.


	3. A prince and a birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're going to be following the Black Mirror episode a bit more from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The three remaining main characters!

Roman Amor Viteri and Remus Amets Viteri were born on June 25th, 1996 within minutes of each other, and spent the following 23 years simultaneously being each other's best friend and worst enemy. No one had been more surprised than their close family when they decided to share an apartment when they moved out at 19. There had definitely been bets on how long they would manage, but they’ve lived together for almost four years and had a permanent roommate for two of those.

Virgil Laelius Castro was the supposedly unfortunate soul that was roommate with the Viteri twins, and he questioned this decision on a weekly basis. Don’t get him wrong - the rent was cheap, and he would consider Roman a friend, but Remus could be… a lot. Both of the twins could be a lot but in completely different ways. Virgil often had an easier time joking around with Roman, than with Remus. Didn’t mean that he would hunt down whoever made Remus cry, if only because he’s never seen Remus cry.

So when June 25 came, it laid on Virgil’s shoulders to organize a birthday celebration that both of the twins would be happy with. Not an easy feat, but not impossible either.

When Roman came home from his part-time job that afternoon, it was to a small surprise party consisting of Virgil and Remus. The decorations were more fit a Halloween party, with red balloons filled partly with some dark liquid, and intestines made of fabric hung up as garlands, but there were also the fairy lights and golden streamers that Roman favoured. The cake was store-bought and had once been two cakes. The vanilla-strawberry half had his name written in red icing, and the dark chocolate half had Remus’ name written in green.

To an outsider, it might look odd, but to Roman it was perfect. He was sure that Remus would agree if he had to go by the wide grin on his twin’s face - the one that others thought showed just a bit too many teeth.

“You’ve outdone yourself, my chemically imbalanced romance,” Roman praises.

“Shut up, princey,” Virgil grumbles, but there was no heat in it.

Roman sits down next to Remus on the sofa, instead of crowding Virgil by forcing him to be in between them. He and Remus had already exchanged gifts at midnight - a tradition from when they were young and sharing a room. (He had given Remus a giant gummy rat, which was unlikely to last a week. Remus had given him a figurine of the sword in the stone, from the Disney movie. Roman definitely had questions about the collector's item, but chose to not ask.)

“Here,” Virgil says, and hands them each a gift without much fanfare.

Remus opens his gift first and is delighted at the guillotine model kit. Roman makes a mental note to look more into getting his brother a mace of some sort for Christmas.

He is more careful when he opens his gift, admiring the pretty wrapping paper as he does. Roman doesn’t expect anything much, perhaps another Funko Pop of a Disney character. He has quite the collection in his room. It, therefore, takes him by surprise when he removes the wrapping paper to find a smooth white box with _Deceit Too_ printed on it in yellow italics, a picture of the robot doll underneath the text.

“Thanks, Virge,” he says, stroking the box as if it is something precious.

His celebrity crush on Deceit is not a secret, and for all that Virgil likes to tease him about it, the singer means a lot more than a pretty face to him. The lyrics have always spoken to him more than the music or performances. Deceit Too may be a mass-produced publicity stunt, and Roman might be 23 years old, but he’s still delighted to be able to get to converse with his idol in this way. Delighted to get to show his idol that he can perform too, although his preferred method is theatre and not music.

“Uh, yeah, just don’t make out with it or anything,” Virgil answers. The joke falls flat, although Remus still guffaws at it.

Later, after most of the cake has been eaten and after they’ve popped the balloons in the kitchen sink, Roman sits down on his bed with the box. He opens it carefully, curious as to what the Deceit Too will be like in real life. There are speakers built into it, and the base has wheels that allow it to move. He skims through the instructions for the important parts - it can connect to wifi, and it comes with a USB cable for charging. About what you can expect for an AI of this kind.

Roman picks up the doll from the box and puts it down on his bedside table. Now to wake it up… because it came already charged according to the instructions.

“Deceit, wake up.”

“Hi, I’m Deceit Too! What’s your name?”

It’s weird to hear Deceit’s voice come from the cute little robot, with an animated face and plastic hair in the shape of Deceit’s iconic braid. The braid is lime green, instead of the natural brown that the idol has. Roman wonders if Deceit had chosen the colour himself.

“I’m Roman,” he answers, a small smile on his face.

“It’s great to meet you, Roman,” Deceit Too answers. It sounds happy.

“Yeah, you too,” Roman agrees with a small laugh. The situation is so weird.

“Well, shall we get to know each other then? How old are you?”

“Oh, uh, I’m 23,” he admits. The robot blinks. It’s probably been programmed to expect teenage girls or something.

“Me too!” it says after the awkward beat of silence. “Do you live alone then?”

“No, I live with my twin brother and a friend,” Roman answers. “Rent’s cheaper that way.”

“What are their names? Am I going to meet them?”

“My twin is Remus, and then Virgil’s my friend. They don’t really go into my room without permission, so I don’t know. Maybe? Virgil thinks you’re a bit stupid, and Remus can be pretty inappropriate, so I don’t know if you would want to meet them. Do you?”

Deceit Too looks towards the ceiling for a moment, as if it’s thinking. Does it need to think?

“I’d love to meet them,” it says at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have a lot of fun giving everyone middle names and surnames. Do they have meanings? Yeah. Do the meanings actually matter in the context of the fic? Not really. I just like when names have meanings.
> 
> If you want more roceit, I'm writing a small thing called Playdate on tumblr! (It'll be posted on AO3 when it's finished)


	4. Meeting the roomates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deceit Too did say that it wanted to meet Virgil and Remus.

****Roman works part-time during the summers and focuses on his studies the rest of the year, but he’s almost always involved with one play production or other. It varies if he’s one of the actors or if he’s helping out in children’s theatre groups, but he always gives it his all. This summer is no exception as he’s been cast in a production of _The Three Musketeers_. Out of the three roommates, he’s the one to be gone the most.

Since Remus is self-employed, being both his own boss and the whole company, his actual work hours tend to be sporadic. He’s usually gone at odd hours, being the only mouse catcher willing to come at any time during the day. Roman suspects that a lot of his work is due to people finding a mouse in the middle of the night and not knowing what to do, but he’s happy that his brother is successful even if he’s confused by it. It also means that you never know if Remus will be home or not, because sometimes he goes weeks without any work and then others he’s gone for days.

Virgil is the only one of them guaranteed to be found at home outside of lessons, as he isn’t the kind of person that enjoys partying or socializing in big groups. He supports himself by taking commissions on both Tumblr and Fiverr - mostly writing and art on the former, mostly art and music on the latter. Roman doesn’t know a lot about Virgil’s family, but he thinks they send him a monthly allowance since Virgil is studying on a full-tuition scholarship.

Roman could probably get by financially without a part-time job since Remus ended up not needing the tuition fund their parents had set up for them, and Remus had repeatedly offered to cover the rent if he wants to focus more on studying or theatre. It feels better to do something though, and any money that Remus has saved up are better used in case of emergency. Like that time that Remus managed to explode their microwave.

Anyway, the difference in their schedules means that it takes a few days before Roman introduces Deceit Too to the others. During those days, he has spent a lot of his free time both talking with the robot and using it to rehearse lines. He had tried rehearsing lines with Virgil in the past, but the deadpan way that Virgil delivered the lines always made him break out in laughter. Rehearsing with Remus wasn’t even an option, as Remus could never keep to a script. The robot had been a nice change, both praising him and coming with advice on how to deliver some lines. He knows that the real Deceit had some cameos on Disney shows, so Deceit Too must have the same experiences in its software.

While he does enjoy talking to Deceit Too, it’s sometimes obvious that the robot was meant for teenage girls. There are times when an answer takes a long time to come as if the robot has let go off its stage persona. In fact, Deceit Too only feels real as long as they talk about Deceit’s career and songwriting or about Roman. He can understand Deceit’s personal life being kept a secret, but it falls a bit too flat.

With his own experiences in mind, Roman doesn’t know what he actually expected when he sits Deceit Too down on the table in front of Virgil and Remus.

“Let me guess,” Deceit Too says. “You’re Remus, and you’re Virgil.”

“What gave it away, the fact that I look nothing like the identical twins?” Virgil scoffs.

“I think it was supposed to be a joke,” Roman offers. The whole situation feels awkward, and he has to remind himself that he’s introducing a pre-programmed robot, not the real Deceit.

“What’s it like being a robot?” Remus asks. He’s leaning forward, his face close to the robot.

“What’s it like being human?” Deceit Too counters, his tone not the upbeat tone that Roman has grown use to. It almost sounds annoyed.

“Gory,” Remus answers with a too-wide smile, and leans back, apparently satisfied. Deceit Too blinks.

“I have a commission to work on if we’re done here…” Virgil trails off as he stands up.

“You do commissions? That’s really cool!” Deceit Too sounds upbeat once more, and Roman can’t help but frown. “What kind?”

“Writing, art, and music.” Virgil crosses his arms defensively.

“Those are all really powerful ways to express your creativity. That’s awesome.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Virgil rolls his eyes and leaves for his room. Roman can understand - it had definitely sounded more like a line from a commercial than something genuine.

The robot looks like it’s frowning as it watches Virgil leave, but it’s replaced by a standard smile before he can be sure. Roman looks towards his brother instead, wondering if Remus is interested in staying or not.

“You look the perfect fit for my guillotine.”

There is a shine in Remus’ eyes that doesn’t bode well. Roman snatches Deceit Too up before his brother can act. He really doesn’t know what he expected.

After having retreated to his room, where the robot would be safe, Roman spends the rest of the evening listening to music and painting his nails. Deceit Too is helping by holding the bottle of nail polish for him. He thinks he hears the robot singing along to some of the songs, but it’s too quiet to properly make out. If Deceit Too really is singing, then that’s another thing that makes him question if it’s just an AI or something more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we'll be checking up on Dee and Patton!
> 
> I'm very tempted to start writing a Mythology AU that I've been posting about on tumblr. It would be thviceit with background intrulogical. Not sure if anyone would actually be interested though, because thvicet seems really rare.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update as I finish chapters :)
> 
> You can find me @loveceit on tumblr if you want to talk! Aaaaaand I might post some art for the fic.
> 
> Don't be afraid to tell me if I need to tag something!


End file.
